Glossary Term – Person

Henry A. Wallace (1888–1965) was the thirty-third vice president of the United States and the Progressive Party nominee in the presidential election of 1948. Wallace served in the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt, as secretary of agriculture and then as vice president. In the 1944 election, he was replaced as vice president by Harry S. Truman. Wallace served as secretary of commerce until Truman dismissed him in 1946 over disagreements about Cold War policy. Wallace helped establish the Progressive Party and ran unsuccessfully as...

Teaching Resource

In Korea the Government forces, which were armed to prevent border raids and to preserve internal security, were attacked by invading forces from North Korea. . . . The attack upon Korea makes it plain beyond all doubt that communism has passed beyond the use of subversion to conquer independent nations and will now use armed invasion and war.

President Harry Truman
Reading 2

[While flying back to Washington after receiving news that North Korea had attacked South Korea, Truman pondered...

Teaching Resource

Nuclear bombs cannot possible remain a “secret weapon” at the exclusive disposal of this country for more than a few years. The scientific facts on which their construction is based are well known to scientists of other countries. Unless an effective internal control of nuclear explosives is instituted, a race for nuclear armaments is certain to ensue following the first revelation of our possession of nuclear weapons to the world. . . . In the war to which an armaments race is likely to lead, the United States, with its...